by Laura Pepper and Jeff Apel

Two-time Eclipse Award winning jockey John Velazquez earned his milestone 4,000th career victory on Sunday when he guided Rogue Agent to a six-length win at Belmont Park.

Velazquez positioned the nine-year-old gelding in second until the top of the stretch, when Rogue Agent surged ahead at odds of 3.30-1 to defeat favorite Trippi Appeal.

“It feels great to put it behind me and move on to other things,” Velazquez said. “As you closer to a big number, it seems harder and harder to get there. I had a great weekend and rode some really nice horses. Every one of my wins was memorable to me. Every one counts to get to 4,000.”

Velazquez added another victory aboard Aboard Be Glorious in the second race on Sunday at Belmont.

“It’s a terrific milestone. It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work and a lot of hard rides,” said four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher, who has teamed with Velazquez to win more than 890 races, including 142 graded stakes victories.

On Saturday, Velazquez earned career victories 3,998 and 3,999 at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting with two wins for Pletcher. He won the Clement L. Hirsch Memorial Turf Championship Stakes (G1) aboard Red Giant and the Yellow Ribbon Stakes (G1) on champion Wait a While.

“It’s sort of a relationship that evolved,” Pletcher said of his professional relationship with John Velazquez, which began in 1996. “I thought he was an up-and-coming rider and he just started riding more and more horses for us, and we had success together and he just fit our style well, riding a variety of horses well. I mean, he’s good on the turf, he’s good on the dirt, he’s good with the babies and such, it just seems to fit our stable well.”

In 2007, the pair brought home their first Triple Crown race victory when Rags to Riches won the Belmont Stakes (G1). Rags to Riches became the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont after she edged ’07 Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old male Curlin by a head.

“Rags to Riches winning the Belmont was probably our most exciting win,” Pletcher said. “We won three Breeders’ Cup races together and had a lot of good wins, but, you know, in addition to being a good jockey he is a quality individual, a good family man, he’s an honest person, and totally reliable.”

Velazquez, 36, made his North American riding debut in 1990, and has earned 355 of his wins in graded stakes races. His mounts have compiled purse earnings of $213,458,043.

A Carolina, Puerto Rico, native who now lives in West Hempstead, New York, Velazquez earned consecutive Eclipse Awards from 2004-’05.

Velazquez has won seven races at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, including a victory by ‘07 champion grass horse English Channel in last year’s $3-million John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1). He won his 3,000th career race aboard Runingforpresident on July 29, 2004, at Saratoga Race Course, which was John Velazquez bobblehead day at the Saratoga Springs, New York, track.

Velazquez’s agent is Angel Cordero Jr., a retired Racing Hall of Fame rider. Velazquez considers Cordero the most influential person in his riding career that also includes 20 leading rider titles at New York tracks.

Velazquez was elected chairman of the board of the Jockey’s Guild in July 2006.

Velazquez and his wife, Leona, are the parents of two children—Lerina and Michael Patrick. Velazquez’s father-in-law is trainer Leo O’Brien. His brother-in-law is trainer Keith O’Brien.

Laura Pepper is editorial intern for thoroughbred Times

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor